My family and friends often ask me why a fifty-nine year old retired teacher spends so much time watching a corny old television show like the Andy Griffith Show. They want to know what I see that they don’t. So I tell them:
When I see Opie and Andy sitting out on the porch having one of their man-to-man talks, I see the father I never had. When I see Ellie Walker behind the soda fountain at Walker’s Drug store, I see Mr. And Mrs. Weix behind the soda fountain of the drugstore that I frequented as a young boy. When I see Opie and his friends frolicking through Crouch’s Woods and fishing at Meyer’s Lake, I see my brothers and me fishing at the old Mill Pond and playing out in Rau’s Woods. When I see Floyd cutting hair and talking to the town cronies, I see myself sitting in Virk’s Barbershop and I am listening to the men folk telling their hunting and fishing stories while I read comic books and enjoy the smells of the witch hazel and other manly scents. Or when I see Miss Crump encouraging Opie to go outside to play football, I see Mr. Eiden, my seventh grade basketball coach, laughing and encouraging us after we just lost a basketball game by a score of 88-0. After all, it was just a game back then. And when I see good old Mr. Foley working in his little grocery store on Mayberry’s Main Street, I remember Mr. Krueger who rigged a contest in his grocery store in order for a little boy to win a beautiful new cowboy outfit because his parents didn’t have any money to buy one. That little boy happened to be me. When I see Andy and Barney welcoming Otis each Friday night and treating him with dignity, I recall very vividly our small town police officer that would follow my dad home when he had a snootful, to make sure he got home safely to his anxious and awaiting family. These are just some of the things I see when I watch the Andy Griffith Show. And I see much more. For you see, I was very fortunate to have grown up in a very small town during a wonderful time when us kids were safe and secure knowing that we could roam around town, just like little Leon and Opie, and we could really get to know all those wonderful people who are no longer there. Well, maybe I am a little strange, but so what. In this day and age, who cares? I am going to grab on to all the memories that I can find, and I am going to cherish them forever. Kenneth G. Anderson 2906 May Street Eau Claire, Wisconsin 54701 715-839-8470 [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ WBMUTBB mailing list [email protected] http://mail.wbmutbb.com/mailman/listinfo/wbmutbb_wbmutbb.com http://www.mayberry.com/tagsrwc/wbmutbb/
